Raymond Roussel's Cure with Pierre Janet.

Abstract

Raymond Roussel (1877-1933) was an eccentric writer whose strange novelistic and theatrical work was launched by the surrealists and is still worshipped by the French intelligentia. While writing his first text at the age of 19 years, he presented a delusional episode marked by the conviction that he was shining like a sun and that he had acquired universal glory. He "fell back to earth" when the book was published and he realized that no one was stopping to gaze at him. He later led a ritualized life, continuing to write and eventually achieving success - glory even - with the champions of the surrealist revolution, who saw the genius in him. His eccentricities, permitted by his immense fortune, contributed to the legend and helped him to exist socially. He was also able to conceal his homosexuality, which appears to be closely dependent on an emotional infantilism. His pathology is recognized thanks to Pierre Janet's account (1859-1947) of his case in De l'Angoisse à l'Extase. Janet's accompanying psychotherapy, which supported him for many years, was effective in moving him towards a form of obsessive consolidation. Janet's therapeutic approach, however, is currently strongly criticized by dogmatic psychoanalysts. Roussel must have been aware of the artificial nature of his theatrical successes and he succumbed to a depressive state, taking refuge in barbiturate addiction. He died in a Palermo hotel room of a barbiturate overdose, considered to be suicidal.